Cherry trees to be removed by 59th St. park

A row of cherry trees are slated to be cut down near the corner of 59th Street and Phinney Avenue at West Woodland Park on the zoo property’s northwest corner.

Note the signs hanging on the trees.

This came to our attention after artman51 made a comment (thanks!) about the signs on this post about the nearby sandbox being filled with wood chips.

We’ve got a call in to David Selk for more info.

Update: David says four trees with signs on them (though it looks like one sign walked off) will come down and the rest will remain, explaining in more detail about the disease problem with Asian cherry trees:

“Being cherries, they’re susceptible to a lot of fungal diseases,” Selk said. “They get to a point and they just start deteriorating.” The alternative would be to spray the trees with fungicides a couple times a year, which they’re not thrilled about doing next to a children’s play area.

It may be hard to read in the picture above, but replacement red maple trees have been planted behind the four diseased cherries.